A Tale of Two Books

One written, one half-read

Last night I submitted the first draft of text for my next book. I’ve been working on it for the last few months, another nature-based guide book in the Concise range by the lovely Bloomsbury. I’ll share more details about it nearer publication date (can’t actually remember when that is at the mo) and I’ll likely still have edits and a few illustrations to do before it’s ready for print, but today I am allowing myself to celebrate the completion of another project. I have hot coffee, a sleeping babe on my lap, and there is a tiny bit of sunlight drifting through the clouds. This afternoon I’m going to bake a batch of my favourite pecan energy bars and plant garlic cloves in the garden.

I have a couple of things to share this week. First, a book I want to recommend despite not being able to finish it myself. You have probably seen it around - Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, winner of the Booker Prize 2023. I started listening to it on Borrowbox after hearing so many good things about it, and I’m here to tell you that it lives up to its reputation. I particularly recommend on audio because it’s read in a beautiful, lilting Irish voice which somehow makes the plot a smidge less harrowing. But that’s the reason I couldn’t finish it - the super bleak, dystopian realism of the plot.

Prophet Song is set in a fictional (although completely believable) Ireland as it slides quickly into the grip of a tyrannical government. The story follows a woman struggling to cope with her husband’s disappearance and the safety of their children, and I’ll be honest, I just can’t cope with these things at the moment. I’m still in the postnatal fug and I struggle to read stories like these, in a way that never bothered me before I became a mother. I also opened BBC News this morning to see our own government redefining what ‘extremism’ means in the name of defending ‘fundamental British values’, whatever the hell those are. For my own sanity, I looked up the ending of the book on Wikipedia and decided to leave it for another day. I do, however, completely recommend it if your brain is a bit less fragile than mine. In fact, I’m tempted to send a copy to Michael Gove, just in case he has a soul.

On a similar note, I wanted to share something else with you this week. My talented friend and jewellery designer Julia de Klerk is offering these beautiful brooches in exchange for a minimum £5 donation to Women for Women International or Medical Aid for Palestinians. You can find all the details on her Instagram post here, but be aware that (happily) she has had so many donations that there is currently a waiting list. You can also donate to her postage costs, which would be fab.

Hope the sun is shining where you are! Have a lovely weekend x